2023-04-24 09:21 Tags: # Oral Exam Case Study ## Westpac Overview - Banking and financial services - 7 million customers - one of four major banks - A$69.5 billion market capitalisation ## Dr David Morgan CEO 1999-2007 ## Dr Gail Kelly CEO 2008-2015 ## Leadership Issues ### 1. Layoffs following deregulation in the 90s left employees demotivated #### Relationship Theory - Moved away from shareholders as only follower to listen to (transformational) - Highest employee engagement and commitment shows positive transformation in the relationship between employees and C-suite (transformational) - Record customer satisfaction (transformational) - Dr Morgan acted as a mentor - prioritising strong leadership and teamwork abilities within the organisation (transformational) - Dr Morgan spoke directly to 2000 managers (servant/democratic leader) - Created a space where it is safe to speak up (transformational) - Showed he cared about what they "think and value and believe" (transformational) - Get on the balcony and see the adaptive challenge was reinstating trust from employees (adaptive) - Protect the voices of those employees who are unhappy (adaptive) #### Trait Theory - Empower employees (laissez-faire approach) ### 2. lack of trust from the public Banks only thought of shareholders. Public felt the banks were: - Greedy - Arrogant - Ignorant of needs - Only thinking of shareholders #### Behavioural Theory - Morgan admitted mistake to only prioritise shareholders (authentic) - transparent about what went wrong in the 1990s (authentic) ### 3. GFC of 2008 #### Transactional leadership - required for crisis (short term) (transactional) - Improved efficiency reducing cost to income ratio (transactional) - Major capital raising by selling discounted shares (transactional) ### 4. Transition to a new CEO in 2008 #### Trait Theory - Doesn't acknowledge people - hubris (not authentic leader) #### Functional Theory - Employee engagement decreased from 87% to 78% (2008) and 81% (2009) - possibly shows deteriorating relationships or simply a response to the GFC. #### Relationship Theory - Very little mention of Westpac's employees - lack of authentic leadership - Praised executives but only mentioned employees as "high levels of engagement of our people" ### 5. Maintaining culture of sustainability #### Functional Theory - Bank employees encouraged to get involved in community (laissez-faire) - Leader in carbon disclosure project - honesty and transparency (authentic) - Founding signatory to United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) (adaptive) - Reduce emissions by 40% since 1996 (adaptive) - Offering green home loans (adaptive) - Expert Commodities, carbon and energy team (adaptive) #### Relationship Theory - Put customers at the centre (servant leadership) - Instate bank managers (transformational and laissez-faire leadership) - Call centre and complaint resolution improved (adaptive leadership) - Community involvement report (authentic) #### Behavioural Theory - One team approach from Kelly (democratic leadership) - Policies - Climate change initiatives (adaptive/transformational leadership) - Sourcing policies - High level corporate governance - Lending practices - Comprehensive Code of conduct with ethical behaviour ( - Saved $1.2 billion in potential bad debts through responsible lending (adaptive leadership) #### Transactional theory - performance depends on suppliers - scrutiny means socially responsible - Sustainable supply chain management policy ### 6. Increasing the proportion of women in senior leadership positions #### Functional theory - attracting women into senior ranks is a priority - 43% (transformational) ### 7. Encouraging Diversity in Westpac #### Functional Theory - Recruiting indigenous people is a priority (transformational) - Trainee programs for indigenous employees (transformational) - Doing the right thing mandatory training campaign for bullying/harassment/disabilities (transformational) #### Relationship Theory #### Trait Theory - Encouraging diversity displays the trait of respect for all people (transformational) ### 8. Giving employees time to volunteer at the expense of them working #### Functional Theory - 60% of employees volunteered their time (twice national average) - (transformational) - Volunteering Australia's corporate volunteering award for excellence (2007) - Individual can win up to $10k for a charity - Individuals donated $1 million in 2008, westpac matched (authentic) ### Relationship Theory - Employees given the freedom to volunteer (laissez-faire) will be happier at work (adaptive) ### Trait Theory - Shows respect for employees time and wellbeing ### 9. Working Conditions ### Functional theory [^1] --- # References [^1]: [Westpac Story-leadership exam](../../../Spaces/University/ELEC4122/assessments/Oral%20Exam%20Case%20Study/Westpac%20Story-leadership%20exam.pdf)